Gulo gulo

The body shape of the marten bear is between that of a marten and a bear. Its body and limbs are thick like those of a bear, but it has a long tail like that of a marten. It is not big, but it is sturdy. Its fur is brown, and there is a wide band of light yellow semi-circular stripes around the buttocks from the side of the body to the back, which looks like a "crescent moon", so it is called the "moon bear"; because the fur from the ribs to the base of the hind legs is extended, the length can reach 12 cm, like a long "fur skirt" around it, and its fluffy tail hair flutters violently when it jumps freely in the dense forest and jumps from a high place, just like flying, so the marten bear is also called the "flying bear". The tail is thick, the tail hair is dark brown, and it hangs down in a tuft. It has a large head and small ears, a curved back, short and strong limbs, and is plantigrade. Its claws are long and straight and cannot be retracted

The sable is a circumpolar animal, including two subspecies. It is distributed in a large area of ​​the northern hemisphere (Eurasia and northern North America), including the Arctic, Alaska, northern Canada, Siberia, Scandinavia, and they also appear in Russia and the Baltic countries. Historically, sables have appeared in southern North America, such as California in the United States.
In China, it is more common in the Greater Khingan Range (Heilongjiang, northeastern Inner Mongolia) in the northeast region (such as the Wudi River Nature Reserve in Heilongjiang). China is mostly distributed in marginal areas.
Native countries: Canada, China, Estonia, Finland, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.

The mink is the only species in the genus Mink, with 6 subspecies.

Mink will never allow the same sex to appear in its territory, even its own children are no exception. Therefore, once a mink reaches adulthood, it will be driven away from home by its parents and start a new life on its own. However, the territories of opposite sexes can overlap. Generally speaking, the territory of a male marten covers the territory of 3 to 4 female marten.

The marten is a fierce small and medium-sized carnivorous animal, and even the lynx gives it three points. The marten is alert by nature, moves secretly, and usually lives alone. It only lives in a family during the breeding period. It is good at long-distance running, swimming, climbing, and often jumps freely in the dense forest. The marten is greedy by nature, and the original meaning of its Latin name is "gluttony". The marten will use the method of suddenly flying down from the branches to hunt. In order to catch prey, it often hides beside the path where other animals often pass by, and sometimes hides in the tree. When the animal passes by, it jumps down and suddenly attacks. In addition, its claws are sharp and strong, and it is difficult for the prey to escape. Sometimes, the marten will also take the risk of snatching food from the mouths of carnivores that are much larger than it, such as wolves and bears.

The mink is a nocturnal animal. It has sharp vision but a poor sense of smell. It has few natural enemies in nature. It has developed scent glands near its anus. The smell of the scent glands secretes a smelly liquid that has a certain defensive function. Sometimes, the mink will roll in the smelly liquid, making the smell spread all over its body, making it impossible for the enemy to eat it, and it will take the opportunity to escape. Using urine to preserve food (sprinkling urine around the food so that other animals dare not steal it) is one of its unique ways to adapt to the environment.

Every autumn is the estrus season for minks, and male and female minks attract the opposite sex with special roars. In the non-breeding season, minks do not have a fixed nest. In order to give birth to cubs, pregnant females will dig caves by themselves and build a "delivery room" that is two meters wide and one meter high, with an entrance of only about 30 centimeters. The gestation period of the marten is as long as 7 months, but in fact, the fertilized eggs only need two months to develop. After mating in the autumn, female marten do not immediately allow the fertilized eggs to develop. They will carefully calculate and give birth to cubs in the spring of the following year (when food is most abundant in the year).

Habitat degradation and disappearance are fatal threats to marten. Since the 1960s, the development of the Greater Khingan Range, large areas of forests have been cut down, coupled with large-scale forest fires, rapid population growth, and a sharp increase in various production activities, which have seriously encroached on and destroyed the habitat of the marten, causing it to retreat to the hinterland of the forest closer to the west and north. In addition, since both large and medium-sized carnivores and prey animals have been significantly reduced, the food source of the marten has also decreased. The number and migration of marten seem to be greatly affected by the supply of food in winter. The gestation period of female marten happens to be in winter, so the consequences of food shortage in winter are more serious (1989). In addition, overhunting has also led to a decrease in the population. According to incomplete statistics, there were about 100 of them (1994). Currently, the population has decreased significantly and is very rare.

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (January 14, 1989)

Listed in the "China Red List of Endangered Animals" (1996), assessment level - rare species;

Listed in the "China Red List of Species", assessment level - endangered species (EN A1acd)

Listed in the "World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species" (IUCN) 2015 ver 3.1 - Least Concern Species (LC).

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021) Level 1.

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